Our Great Mumbai Holiday plus

So the kid is off to school, and as Starry so succintly puts it: the chains are off! First time in 2 months that I have managed to sit down in front of my laptop without someone wanting my attention.

So what did we do in the holidays? Quite a list.

Attended a super Carpentry workshop at Hippocampus, our library, run by a dear friend. We have a working model of a sun-dial, and a toy aeroplane to show for it. Thoroughly enjoyed by A.

Went to Mumbai after a very long 2 years, visiting parents and in-laws.

Sisters-in-law (2 of them) and I carted the kids (4 boys aged 12-17 years and A) over to the over 200 year old Shree Siddhivinayak temple  in Prabhadevi, which is believed to grant wishes to devotees. It is a favoured place to visit for those who revere Ganesha/ Ganapati- the elephant headed god of learning, who is also believed to remove obstacles from one's life, and is invoked as 'Shree' before undertaking anything of importance.

Also visited the Mahalakshmi temple in Worli, which is built right next to the sea, with the waves breaking on its walls at high tide. The sea fascinated A more than anything else, as the last time we saw the sea was the North sea off Scotland when she was just 3, and she doesn't have any memory of it.

Went shopping with the entire gang (ladies and kids only) to Crawford Market built by the British in 1869 after travelling by the mumbai local trains. A was horrified by the crowd, the rush, and the chaos of both, but enjoyed the outing with her cousins.

Also checked out the extremely high end and absolutely unaffordable Palladium mall and the adjacent High Street Phoenix mall at the place where the famed Phoenix mills- cotton mills- were situated. The only place there that we could even think of buying something was the absolutely enormous Landmark, which had such a wide range of books that I could not do justice in terms of browsing. Picked up a few titles there- but of course. It was literally like getting into Alladin's cave for both A and I, and I plan to make a visit to just that one store on a later visit to Mumbai.

Made a family trip to the absolutely wonderful Tikuji-ni-wadi with brother and his family- A now had two cousins, my nephew aged 11 and niece aged 5 with her. It is very near the city, a few kilometers from my parents' house, but it is like stepping into another time zone. Of course there are the rides and the water parks that were fun for the kids, but the part I enjoyed most were that there was a sprawling chickoo orchard, with village style cots scattered around on which we could relax after a morning of activity and just chill. Which the sister-in-law and I did, as the brother took the kids off for rides. The food is very ordinary, though, just routine noodles-pizza-sandwich-chelpuri-other chaats stuff, not very inspiring. I was hoping for a homestyle gujju spread, and was much disappointed.

Immersed myself in many things marathi-

Typical food cooked by my mother- pithla bhakri, ambadichi bhaji, puraN poLi, kadhigoLe, waTli daL, waraNphaL, shrikand (home made) puri, and most of all, alphonso mango in many avataars. I even picked up aambawadi (a burfi like preparation from mango pulp), aambapoLi (alphonso pulp put out on plates and sundried), phaNaspoLi (made from jackfruit pulp), aambyacha satha (just a lump of dehydrated alphonso pulp).

I also picked up the all important Goda Masaala which is an important and indispensible ingredient of maharashtrian cuisine, and which is unfortunately not available anywhere. At least I have never found it. It is a difficult masaala to make at home, as it has many ingredients and is quite labour intensive. Something I have been too lazy to make at home, as my mother and grandmother always did.

pic courtesy lokvani.com

Took A to many Marathi theatre performances for children. The most notable of which was Durga Zali Gauri, a dance drama, which moves forward only in song and dance. A loved it, and we heard nothing but those songs for a few days. It is comparable to Agatha Christie's play "Mousetrap", in that it has been running to a full house for the last 29 years, and its popularity shows no sign of abating. Unfortunately, it has still not been released on DVD, but I picked up an audio CD at the time of the performance. Something I would recommend to any theatre lover visiting Mumbai during the summer vacations. Performances are only then, as the children acting in it are free at the time. I spoke to Arun Kakade, the person behind it all, about having shows in Bangalore. He was interested, and told me that he had spoken to some people here about it, but that the logistics of transporting a 50+ troupe of dancers, housing them, almost all children, was daunting. Our loss!

I went for a few Marathi theatre performances too- two of which were written by the noted playwright, Sai Paranjpye, better known outside of Maharashtra for her sensitively made movies like Katha, Chashhme Baddoor and Sparsh. Also saw a few Marathi movies- some on DVD and one in theatres- the newly released Bal Gandharva which is a biographical film based on the life of one of Marathi's greatest and pioneering singers, and actor Narayan Shripad Rajhans, better known by his alter-ego : Bal Gandharva.

On DVD, saw quite a few. Am convinced that regional movies have a lot more to offer on realistic and well made movies- of an extremely high calibre as compared to the staple bollywood fare. I can probably count those bollywood films that impressed me in the last five years on the fingers of my hand. I do not really know much about regional films in other Indian languages, but going by those that are aired on LokSabha channel, there are quite a few world-class movies being made. When will bollywood wake up and smell the celluloid?

Anyway, the ones I saw this time-

Rita, based on the book of the same name by renowned marathi writer Shanta Gokhale- it is the story of Rita Welingkar, the eldest of three daughters, who starts working at an early age when her no-good father loses his job, and pretty much becomes the parent for her sisters, inspite of having both her parents alive. On the way she gets into a relationship with her much older and much-married-with-kids boss. The movie captures very well Rita's struggle to make things more meaningful in her life- wonderfully played by Pallavi Joshi.

Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (I, Sindhutai Sakpal) based on her autobiography named Mee Vanvasi (I, the exiled), is the story of a poor woman born in rural Maharashtra- pulled out of school and married off at age 12 to a man more than twice her age, and her struggle for a life of dignity. She is thrown out by her husband, pregnant, near term, with her third child, on a false charge of infidelity. This is the story of how she stands up in dignity, not just for herself, but for the rights of many more of the downtrodden, establishing 5 orphanages in the process, and travelling to the US on invitation to raise funds. Sindhutai, or Mai as she is known, is a living legend, doing her work even today. Wonderful performances by the actors, the movie may be seen just for the underplayed performance of Tejaswini Pandit, who plays the protagonist in her youth, her real life mother, Jyoti Chandorkar playing the elderly Mai.

Went to a few book exihibitions exclusively for Marathi books. Found out that many of our favourite Tulika books are been published by Jyotsna Prakashan, a well known publishing house of Marathi children's books, at a fraction of the price, with full credits to Tulika's copyright.. Was thrilled on finding them. Picked up a lot of Marathi books for A and for myself. Now that she knows the Devanagari script, common to both Marathi and Hindi, A can read simple books on her own. Am really thrilled about it.

It goes without saying that both A and I read a lot of books including Harry Potter 6, which we will be finishing in a day or two. To be followed by book 7, so that we will be all set for the last movie due in mid-July.

Ate at a lot of interesting restaurants many times with family and friends, too many too enumerate. The high point was a small place where we ate home-style Malwani food. Yum!

Met a lot of my old friends after a loooooonnnngggg time.

Also met a new friend, Ugich Konitari, a wonderful blogger whose posts I love for the clear headed analysis of so many different things, done with a wry sense of humour. She has written a whole post here about our meeting. We met midway between our houses, and had lunch together at a mall where we even had icy cold gola for dessert. She was exactly as I had visualised her, and much more. It was lovely meeting you, Ugich.

Chilled out totally over our trip, and was back home with a few weeks to spare before school re-opened. Soon after we were back, A had her birthday party.

And we made mango pickle at home- A helped in lot in the process.

We also had a long awaited meet of Saffrontree members from Bangalore at Artnavy's lovely home.

Then there were the usual round of dentist, doctor, etc., shopping for school, and here we are. School has started!

Of rain and book-shine

It's been really cold weather for the past few days now, and seems as though winter has already begun. Having been born and brought up in Mumbai, it took me quite a while to get used to the cooler winters here. In fact, I am one of those who feel extra cold on any given day, and need at least a thin coverlet on warmer nights on which others cannot sleep without a fan.

The cold these few days is more as a result of the rains, thanks to Cyclone Jal, not true winter yet, methinks. Sweaters, jackets and quilts have nevertheless come out, and it is purely by sheer willpower, and the thought of having to get the child ready on time for the school bus, that I can get out of a warm bed before daybreak, shivering as I take a handful of really cold tap water to rinse my face so that I wake up completely.

Uncharacteristically for Bangalore, it has been raining at all odd times. It is not usual to have rain mid-morning. Unlike in Mumbai, where it keeps raining 24/7 for almost all days of the monsoon, July being the worst. What is interesting is that Mumbai keeps going inspite of it, and on days when the lifeline of the city, the local trains, stop in their tracks because of the water-logging, the die-hard Mumbaikars find alternative ways of going about their business. It isn't called maximum city for nothing.

Two incidents stand out in my memory.

One July day, many years ago, it rained so much in Mumbai that the local trains were not working. I had to submit my admission forms for my graduate course that day. On enquiring, I learnt that rain or no rain, it had to be done that day. So I took buses to the place, and had to walk the last half kilometer or so through thigh high water. Equiped with my certificates wrapped securely in plastic (Imagine the loss if they had got damaged by water? Try telling that to an 18-something person who has no concept of the apparent mission impossible!) and nothing more than an umbrella to protect myself from the incessant rain, I proceeded to do what I needed to do. Never mind that it took me the entire day to get there in the crazy water-logged traffic, finish with the formalities, and come back home.

Second was when a friend's parents had come to Mumbai from a town in interior Maharashtra for the first time since she had married and come to Mumbai. They had come just before the monsoon season had begun. When the rains started in earnest around the 2nd-3rd week of June, they were astonished that she had to go to work as usual, rain notwithstanding. That aunty later told me that she thought her daughter would have a holiday since it rained so much and so continuously that day. She soon realised, however, that the incessant rain was not just for a day or two like in her native town, but would continue unabated, increasing in ferocity over the next 2-3 months, and daily life had to go on!

When I came to Bangalore, it took me awhile to get used to its rains too, just like I had to get used to the cold. To my Mumbai-acclimatised mind, the rains here were erratic, comimg in summer as well as winter. Also, a sunny morning was no guarantee that it would not become overcast towards the afternoon, and rain in the evening. Initially, I hated the fact that I could not get out in the evenings. Also, I could not get my mind around the fact that people hardly ever carried umbrellas here-which you'll still find me carrying. (I always carry one in my purse. True Mumbaikar at heart. Ready even in case of unexpected rains.) And, I could not get any rainy footwear like in Mumbai- which I would get from there every year.

Now, after 15 years in Bangalore, I have partially switched loyalties, and find Mumbai too sultry sometimes. After all, this is air-conditioned city. I carry that umbrella, get my rainy footwear available at Bangalore shoe-shops since the past few years, and do all I have to do during the mornings. The cold- well, have made great additions to my wardrobe with some excellent jackets, pullovers and cardigans. And am fine with wearing warm-wear during the day, too if necessary.

On a different note- am looking forward to meeting the Tulika team tomorrow at Mother Earth, where they will be releasing their new set of books based on stories from the Panchatantra.. Although their programme is in the evening, which I will not be able to attend thanks to a function at the daughter's school, I shall try to attend a session that they have in the morning. The books, reviewed here at Saffrontree, look yummy!

And looking forward to drooling over the glut of books at the Bangalore Book Festival which starts today! Will try to go during the following week.

Also looking forward to meeting some old and new blogging friends next week.

Come rain or shine!

Edited to add on Nov 14th: Went to the release of the Tulika books yesterday. The team were very warm and welcoming, just as I had visualised them to be. Had a chance to attend an awesome performance by the inimitable Jeeva Raghunath as she told the story from one of the books which has been re-told by her.